Activity

Make a Paper Mosaic!

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Mosaics are great fun for the part of the brain that recognizes patterns, and can help build geometrical awareness in your child. Mosaics come in many materials, such as glass, rock, tile and brick. The complexity of this art form depends on the creativity of the artist. Introduce your young artist to this art form with this fun and creative activity, which blends arts and crafts with patterning for hidden math practice!

What You Need:

Assorted colors of construction paper

Ruler

Scissors or paper cutter

White glue or glue sticks

Black construction paper

What You Do:

Cut the paper into 1inch or ¼ inch squares, depending on your child's level and preference. The easiest way to do this is to cut the paper into 1 inch or ¼ inch strips and then snip them into squares. Use your rule to mark the 1 inch and ¼ inch strips so that your squares will be uniform. Put each color into a separate bowl.

Next, have your child pencil an outline of his design onto the black paper. Make this a simple design as it is hard to do a lot of detail with a mosaic.

Now it's time to start adding squares to the mosaic. It helps to start on the outlines and work in. Glue the squares one by one. A tip for gluing is to dip your finger into the glue, capture the square on your fingertip then place it onto the paper.

Encourage your child to create patterns with his mosaics. Color identification is also important to reinforce while doing this activity. It will be surprising how different each child's art will be even when they start with the same drawing. Have them explore alternating colors or using clumps of color to vary the effect.

Did You Know?

Mosaics can be traced to as early as 3,000 B.C. in the Near East.

The first mosaics were made with rounded pebbles, glass and marble chips.

Today huge murals are depicted in mosaic tiles, homes and public places are decorated with them.